Hillsborough inquests: James Aspinall shown on footage enjoying himself in crowd before crush and four other things we learnt today, October 21

The pitch at Anfield, covered with thousands of bunches of flowers laid as a mark of respect to the many Liverpool fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough.

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* Teenager James Aspinall was seen on footage enjoying himself in the crowd before the crush

James Aspinall, who died in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989

Photos and footage from between 2.38pm and 2.56pm showed 18-year-old James, from Huyton, on the terrace.

A clip from 2.40pm showed him among supporters as an inflatable ball was thrown around.

Counsel to the inquests Christina Lambert QC said: “James in the crowd, clearly enjoying being in the crowd.”

* But less than an hour later he was shown lying on his own on the pitch

Footage from 3.27pm showed James lying on the pitch with his face covered by a jacket, which the court heard belonged to police officer Robert Fox.

As the clip was played, Ms Lambert said: “James remains unattended on the pitch. A fan has just stepped over him and stepped back over him.

“A police officer has just stepped over him.

“Pausing there, a St John Ambulance officer has just stepped over James’s body.”

* James’s parents waited for the last bus from Hillsborough to return to the bus station - but their son did not come back

The court heard James’s dad Jimmy had also been at the match but had travelled separately from his son and had been standing in the north west terrace.

He later travelled back to Merseyside, after checking at the hospitals for James and learning that the coach company James had travelled with had said all passengers were on the bus.

Ms Lambert said: “On their arrival home they went to the bus station with James’s mother Margaret and waited for all the buses to arrive.

“The last bus arrived but James was not on it.”

* A police officer made a provisional identification of victim Steven Fox, but did not contact his family

The court heard Anthony Shelton, a detective constable, searched Steven and provisionally identified him after finding a membership card with his name and picture on.

But, he said it was not his role to contact the family after finding that, but he would have relayed the information to someone.

He said: “I would have passed it to someone but who, I don’t know.”

* More evidence has been found about how dad-of-two Gary Harrison was carried from the pen

The court heard additional evidence had been uncovered about Gary, 27, since the jury had heard his individual evidence in June.

The jury had previously heard evidence from police officer David Tranter, who identified Gary as one of the fans he helped to carry into pen two from pen three and then through gate two onto the pitch.

However, the court was shown new footage showing Gary being carried through the gate in pen three at 3.27pm.